Yearly Archives: 2014

The truth in Scripture has been hidden away. I don’t know why it happened, but I do know that repentance, renewing of the mind, and “in Christ” are the sign-posts that point to the new you.

For the longest time, I couldn’t understand why Holy Spirit kept telling me about “new creation”. It’s not all over the Scriptures, it’s only a few of them that allude to it really, but He just kept telling me it over and over. I see now why. The NT is about YOU in Christ. And Christ in YOU.

Don’t skip over this.

Many times we read something and we think it already has life in us, so we move past it, but consider this… You died to the lie of separation. And now you are rebirthed in Christ who CAN never be separated from God.

Repentance (Change of Mind) is the understanding of who you are in Christ. It’s identity not performance. If your identity is wrong, your performance will always be out of place of religion, which is steeped in pride and lust, it is self-gain for illegal desire outside of relationship.

Renewing of the Mind (Change of Mind) is the understanding of who you are in Christ! See the pattern? Come on now! Scripture says transformation comes from renewing the mind. Notice here it’s not from a LOT of effort, but it’s from continually RE-newing (hence always making it new) to the REALITY of who you are in Christ. The battle is believing in who you really are in Christ as this battle is won the fruit comes naturally.

But this is the biggest hidden truth…

“In Christ” is talking about YOU. Scriptures (and there are TON) that reference in Christ, by Christ, through Christ are YOU. They are YOU! This is so freakin’ big. How do you know what to repent? How do you know what to renew your mind to? Go find some In Christ Scriptures!

When you wrap your mind to this reality of who YOU ARE because of the GOODNESS and the KINDNESS of God you will be lead to such a place of true repentance, that you might even weep (I know I do at times). And people will think you’re truly a freak of nature.

Why? Because your love and devotion for Christ can not be replicated by any performance minded people. For them, it will be a chore. It will be something they “have to do”. Not something they “get to do”. And it will freak them out so much they will think you’re NOT real. Ring any bells? Haha! I love it! You love God this much??? You can’t be real dude you must have some hidden sin, agenda, etc… LOL. This is a religious broken mindset. And it is NOT a renewed mind.

My brothers and sisters this is OUR exceeding great joy. That we are one with Him and He is one with us. He is our reward. He is our blessing. He is the rock upon which we build. He is our true friend, our true Lover, our Father, Mentor, and Brother. He is what our hearts have craved!

If you don’t know the Love of the Father you will seek the love of the world. Let me put it like this, our love for Him is a Earth to Heaven reality. His love for us is a Heaven to Earth reality. This is one of the first places we can begin to see Heaven coming to Earth. His love in us. His love in you.

I’ll end with this thought: If you want to have something for the dying, hurting, lost people around you, discover what you have been given by knowing who you are in Christ. And you will always have something to freely give.

Lies, lies, and more lies. Make no mistake the goal of the enemy is to try to get you to see your identity through lies. You are a new creation. And you partake in that divine reality through the promises of God (2 Peter 1:4). But the enemy whispers in your ear just like he did to Adam & Eve. Did God really say….? Did He really say you were a new creation? If you are why are you doubting His words? And here comes the deceiver!

With many words he tries to get you to REACT out of a place of fear instead of RESPONDING in a place of faith (Matthew 4:3). A strong-hold is when we take credit for his thoughts. As soon as a strong-hold is formed the enemy (familiar spirit) comes in and begins whispering. And now if we see our identity through this lie, we will think it is from us, and that’s when we let it blur our heart perception (Proverbs 4:23). We can tell this is the case by listening to speech because out of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 15:18).

This is why the Bible says to RENEW your mind and cast out thoughts that try to exalt themselves above the knowledge of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Because when you agree with God’s truth about you – you will begin to flow from a Heaven to Earth reality. Why? Because Earth will no longer be where you get your identity from. And you will begin to see yourself as a Son/Daughter with a Father who has already lavished great and wonderful promises on you. In fact, He has equipped you with every good thing and every good work. (2 Peter 1:3). And we simply give the AMEN (So be it, I am fully persuaded 2 Corinthians 1:20).

Fruit vs Works. Fruit comes from new trees (thats you). Works come from fleshly performance (that’s not you). As we grow in the knowledge of Christ in us how we naturally respond will be in accordance to the Spirit in us. The battle is not for us to BECOME new creations. The battle is in us believing we are new creations.

But God has given us secret weapons. First, we have His Spirit in us. And His Spirit is telling us who we are in Christ. Next, we have Scripture and it is loaded with promises of who we are in Him. And He has given us the people around us. And the Spirit in them is telling us who we are in Christ. Its seems pretty simple right!

As we know the TREE we get to partake in the fruit.

The problems occur if we believe the lies about ourselves. Suddenly, like Adam and Eve we are trying to be like God and reacting in FEAR to the lies of the enemy. And worse still now we begin to see other people through this same lens. And like the Pharisees we give them all kinds of rules that they need to DO to BECOME.

But this is carnal wisdom! Yes I said it. Because it detracts from what Christ has already done! It is not peaceable, no it’s far from it! It puts the focus squarely on me and takes my eyes off Christ. Suddenly like Peter we find ourselves sinking in circumstances we were walking on. And as we cry out Jesus says, why did you doubt?

You are a new creation! You are blessed! You are a child of the Living God! And the greatness of His power is pouring out of you! Everywhere you go is ministry because YOU are ministry. You are One with Him and He is One with you. You are light and darkness can’t stand you. We don’t have to love people, we get to love them. Because He loves you sooooo much that you can’t help, but love on people because it just overflows out of you! You’re so cram packed with His Spirit that signs and wonders follow you everywhere you go. Do you believe it? Do you receive it? If so you’ll see it.

Why did Jesus refer to Himself as the Son of Man? I propose that He wanted to make absolutely sure that we knew His life was OUR example. He did only what He saw His Father do as a Man. By Himself He could do NOTHING (John 5:30) He laid down the pattern of perfect theology for us. Not as our ceiling, but as our floor.

What does it look for man to walk with God? Jesus. It looks like Jesus. It doesn’t even look like the disciples in the Gospels because Jesus had not yet been glorified. So even they could not discern the Ways of God because His Ways are foolishness to those without the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14).

When questioned about His Works Jesus answered that those who believe in Me will do the same and GREATER! Because I go to the Father (John 14:12). The world stopped the moment Christ died and rose again. But He did not die nor rise alone, but He wrapped us up in Himself, the Tabernacle of Glory to present us before the Father. And this is where we are now seated at His right hand in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). You are an heir and a co-heir of glory (Romans 8:17). Both as His Son and as His Bride!

And because of this, we now are EXPECTED to do greater works than the First-Born among many brethren (Romans 8:29). Paul understood this. (1 Corinthians 11:1) The Apostles laid down a blueprint for all to follow. The Spirit of God is manifesting fully grown sons that live from a continual Spiritual encounter with the One who encounters them. And as they know Him, they will fully know themselves (1 Corinthians 13:12). That we also may say the enemy has nothing in me (John 14:30). Afterall, are we not to be filled fully by His Spirit? (Ephesians 3:19)

And may it be said of us that we only do what we see our Father doing. Not because we have glory apart from Him, but because we are never apart from Him. Nor will we ever be again. Because of this reality, we are no longer mere men (1 Corinthians 3:3), but new creations that reveal our Father’s glory (2 Corinthians 4:6, Habakkuk 2:14) and destroy the works of darkness (1 John 3:8) everywhere we go. We don’t seek ministry, we are ministry.

What if milk is to see Christ for you and meat is to see Christ through you?
What if fully dying means to be fully awake to Love? To Hope? To Life? To Mr. Liberty Himself?
What if dying to you means to be fully alive to the One who is alive in you?

And to realize that you’re not just going to heaven, but that Mr. Heaven goes with you.

My heart is exploding. Recently I had such an encounter with God that I woke up in tears. Ever since I have been a train wreck of emotions lol. I weep, I laugh, and I am constantly trembling under His power. I don’t know what’s happening to me, but it’s intense.

I am working to put language to everything so here’s a bit…

I am beginning to understand in new ways the contents of our prayer, “Let your Kingdom come…”. It is a relational government. Yes, there are signs and wonders because of the love and power of God.

But, even more so it is a place of openness, vulnerability, transparency, communication, love, freedom, thankfulness, gratefulness, life, vibrancy, present awareness, and security. One thing I am now sure of: The mind can not comprehend this. In fact, the mind is freaked out about this… I feel like it wants to run and hide.

It’s not of this world. It’s very intense, very real, and very profound. I find myself saying the following over and over again, “I feel so different, unique, weird, intense, and I can’t describe it…”

My heart is so overloading that my mind can’t even process it so I am simply vocal processing everything. It is the wonder of God and I believe it is bringing us into the place of children. So overwhelmed with awe and wonder.

Craving new things, questioning things with curious hearts, and wanting to explore and experience everything that life has to offer. Words just can’t describe, but I believe it is Life Himself – in us and through us. He isn’t calling us up to heaven, but He has brought heaven down to us. And now everything is coming under the government of His rule. And it is so good.

And this is what I believe it looks like for His Kingdom to come: freeing hearts. Free to know Him, be known by Him and free to know each other. To be one as He is one. This is what we are praying for – unity.

Lost in lies of separation, orphan mindsets look through religious eyes at security and confidence in union with God and see arrogance and blasphemy. Just as Jesus was crucified so shall we be persecuted because of the Truth that has set us free. It is not the world who persecuted Christ they embraced Him. It was those who believed they knew God because of their works. They looked in Scripture for what they must do, but Scripture did not point to more works, it pointed to the Author, it testified of Him. So too today we see a Book that points us to an Author. And as these traditions are broken off, we will once again see the heart of an orphan that killed his brother Abel. And this was the child of the enemy.

Orphanism then is the ultimate tool of the enemy and the number one opposer of freedom that God is revealing through His sons and daughters. It is the thought that if it’s to be, it’s up to me. It removes a good God from the equation and replaces works out of fear. It places doing above being. And it denies inheritance forgetting everything the Father has is theirs. Instead it looks with jealous eyes at the prodigal who has returned to fellowship and wishes it can be so for them. This is the importance of love. This is the importance of family. That we who have been set free, might turn around and invite others into the family, breaking off the lies of the orphan and sweeping through this Earth to make disciples of our Father’s Kingdom. This is why the tools and weapons of our warfare are spiritual and not carnal. Because flesh begets flesh, but spirit begets spirit. It is our love in the face of persecution that shows an orphan how valuable they really are.

I think this is a great question to ask. Do we believe love never fails or do we have a backup plan? What did Jesus do?

Jesus was the perfect example for us to live with the Father and the Spirit inside of us. Yet, we never see Him praying to the Father to heal. We see Him doing all of the healing and commanding all the sickness.

He slept through a storm that threatened His disciples. He woke up and commanded it to be still. Yet, how often do we say oh it’s God’s will for that storm? God sent that storm because of their sin or because of His “great plan”. But Jesus only did what He saw His father doing. And He told that storm to silent down!

Far too many believers have been devastated by the attacks of the enemy, but the one that I believe has done the most damage is from the religious spirits. They say that God has some “higher purpose” in letting loved ones die. That God is more concerned about sin than love, etc etc.

But then we see the people who are the most religious, with the loudest and fiercest opposition of sin, living lives void of love. Is it any wonder that the world has thrown up its hands? Said that they want nothing to do with our God? Even creating fables in the guise of wisdom to prove His non-existence?

It’s just persecution?

After the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples Peter went up and gave his first sermon. So filled with passion and purpose 3000 came to know Jesus in all His glory. Yet, have we also noticed that these are the same men who crucified Him? Jesus said that yes the world would persecute us, but we see here that of those that persecuted Him many came to be saved.

Can we not expect the same? Yes we will be persecuted! But this should not be a position of finality, but temporary. What is the purpose of persecution? It is the opportunity of the Kingdom to be revealed! When people respond with love to unfairness and anger, what happens? Christ is preached.

Even for ourselves… do you remember the times that you also treated God unfairly? When you were His enemy? But what was His answer to you? Was it not love? And did it not save you and open your heart?

We think that the Holy Spirit is continually convicting us of our sin, but in reality we see in Scripture that the Spirit of Truth convicts the world, but not the children. Once we are saved, we have been justified, and glorified. And now the Spirit of Truth is telling us who we are not who we are not.

This truth must be reestablished in the church, because how we believe God sees us is how we will see each other. If we do not know God’s love for ourselves, how will we show love for one another? If we think holiness is something we do instead of who we are, will we not continually eat of the same fruit of good and evil?

But God is repopulating the Earth with His sons and daughters.

My heart breaks when I see how we have sold our birthrights for such a small price just like Esau did. How we have forsaken inheritance! And left the world itself, waiting for them to come to us. Instead of going to them. Yes, we have our work cut out for us. And with all the broken families, over-spending governmental policies, and impassioned atheists. The odds may seem to be stacked against us, but I say that it is for this reason that we will see the greatest works of God.

Jesus promised that those who believed would see even greater works. That His ceiling would be our floor. So, we know that there is a powerful momentum that is pushing us into destiny. It’s already been written.

Get ready…

Because while the darkness may seem to increase, the light is growing all the more. His Kingdom is without end. But what will we choose to focus on? Will it be life or death? Love or apathy? Power or persuasion? Fear or faith? Time will tell…

But I believe we can have hope, eternal hope, because from what I know of the future, we will choose correctly because love never fails. And greater is He in us than is in the world. Bless you.

Sometimes I feel like I’m about to explode. Last night after ministry school, I felt the power of God on me so intensely that I had to lay down and simply soak in Him. I’d like to share somethings that Holy Spirit shared with me, but first let me give you a little background on where I’m currently at.

Right now I volunteer at my church’s healing rooms, we have seen some radical miracles there and it’s so awesome to see God’s glory first-hand.

Basically the process for us right now is to really set the atmosphere, so we worship, impart on each other, get hit with His joy and just have a blast together. God becomes so real to us as we simply play in His river of life together. And then the sick and hurt come in and they are dramatically touched and healed by Him.

I’m also volunteering at an online ministry that trains people through Curry Blake. He has trained over 40k people with a ridiculous track record of success (over 70%).

Curry is more focused on the authority of Scripture. He’s not as concerned about setting atmospheres because he believes we should be equipped everywhere and anywhere we go. And we won’t be carrying our worship music with us 24/7 to set atmospheres.

So I’ve been going through two different spectrums.

Focus on the Spirit and what He is doing. And focus on Scripture and what it promises.

Here’s a simple breakdown…

Spirit – Setting atmospheres, being sensitive, words of knowledge about healing, and releasing inheritance.
Scripture – Jesus paid for our healing, He commanded us to heal the sick and cast out devils, sickness is of the enemy not God.

Now – I will say this, Peter walked around and his shadow healed people. He didn’t need to command any spirits out of people. Food for thought.

In light of all these things, I’ve been seeking God for an understanding that ties them both together.

My cry to God is Holy Spirit what are you doing? And how does this align with the authority of Scripture and what Jesus has done?

And last night I felt this come upon my spirit: “Holy Spirit is doing what Jesus the Son has paid for because of God the Father’s great love for the world.”

I believe this is a key.

Notice that it contains all revealed Persons of God.

Holy Spirit is revealing what Jesus has done. He is accomplishing and receiving everything the Lamb’s suffering paid for. In fact, I’d like to show you something radical.

This is a video of a Polish girl who doesn’t know a lick of English, but she is found praying in the Spirit in ENGLISH… So we get to hear first hand an idea of what Holy Spirit is praying through us. And I find this fascinating.

Isn’t that incredible?

I’d like to point out a couple things about this video…

1. Notice Holy Spirit is not preaching the gospel to people, but setting an atmosphere.
2. Holy Spirit is revealing the REALITY of Jesus and who He is.
3. See how fast she prays? She doesn’t even know what she is saying, but Holy Spirit does!

I believe there is a realm that we are called to walk in. It contains both the reality of what Christ paid for and the experience of witnessing Holy Spirit reveal it to us and through us.

John 16:12-15 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

So, next time you want to know what is Holy Spirit doing? Just look at what Jesus Christ did.

I am struck by the thought that Jesus didn’t seek a ministry. He was one. He had the biggest job of all of us. Yet, He calmly walked from place to place letting love, compassion and expectation guide Him. He wasn’t scared or fearful that He was going to “miss it”. He knew who He was. And He knew who His Father was.

I believe there is a lesson here for all of us. So I’d like to begin by revealing a strategy of the enemy.

Does the enemy try to get you to react out of fear?

As Children of God we are instructed that God does not give us a spirit of fear!

2 Tim 1:7 For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

This is important for us to remember because it goes back into our identity. You see if we are lead by obligation or even a performance mindset. We could end up thinking in the terms, “I have to do this or else…”, but this is a problem for us as Children of God because we are not called to be lead by fear. And it is fear that propels people through doing stuff they don’t really want to do.

Many a religious well-intentioned preacher has done this. “You MUST… You NEED… You HAVE to…” But – it’s the same tired song playing over and over getting the same results. People are put into condemnation. Looking at what they are not instead of who they now are. And then they end up repeating the same patterns. Over and over again.

Because fear doesn’t transform, it conforms.

Now let’s uncover this pattern of condemnation together.

First, let’s begin by identifying it.

Here are a few examples of how fear can rear its ugly head…

1. If I don’t do this I will miss out on my calling in life.
2. If I don’t do this God won’t love me as much today.
3. If I don’t do this I won’t be accepted by my peers.

All of these things stem from the same thought process, if I don’t do something, I will miss out on something.

This is actually one of the deceptions of the enemy. He tried this tactic on Jesus no less.

Matt 4:2-3 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he [Jesus] was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Notice the pattern here. If you are the “Son of God” then you will do, say, look, or act like this. The enemy tried to get Jesus to REACT to fear, but Jesus RESPONDS out of faith. Because it is ONLY faith that pleases God. (Heb 11:6)

Remember the enemy’s goal is for you to see your identity through his lies. And the Holy Spirit is revealing your identity through His promises.

Make no mistake about it you are in a war. And that war is over your identity.

You see, the enemy will try to make you think that if you don’t REACT to his temptations then you’re not truly saved, favored, blessed, etc. Or whatever lie he is throwing at you at the time to try to get you to REACT to his lies of fear.

But Jesus doesn’t REACT. He is secure in His identity. Father only a few months ago publicly pronounced Him as His Son!

Matthew 3:16-17 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

Armed with His identity, Jesus doesn’t react to fear, but responds in faith to the lies of the enemy.

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Now what I am hoping to convey here is that both were “right”. The enemy quoted a Scripture, it’s in the Book, but the goal of it was to put Jesus in a place of questioning His identity. So I propose for Jesus to react to this Scripture OUT OF FEAR would have been wrong for Him.

And it’s the same for us.

As Children of God we don’t want to be motivated by fear, and fear is what presses through doing stuff we don’t want to do, so we need to find enjoyment as our motivation.

If you’re struggling to be consistent, maybe it’s time to stop asking God what to do and start asking Him who you are. And what you enjoy doing, how you’re fulfilled, and where you feel most fruitful.

Because after you have your own moment with the Lord, where you embrace that YOU are His beloved Child in whom He is well pleased. Then I believe like Jesus you will naturally respond in faith, no longer reacting in fear. And your eyes will no longer be on you and your trials, tribulations, walk, etc but they will zero in on the world around you. A world that is starving for what you carry.

I can honestly say I didn’t see this coming. I actually made a blog! I decided to create a blog because of something my pastor said to me after encouraging me make one.

“Chris, a blog is a witness of who you are.”

Don’t get my wrong I did use to have a blog, but it was mainly for business stuff. And it didn’t really contain much of who I really am. I actually didn’t even like to write in it because I didn’t care about what I was writing!

So I had very little consistency because I wasn’t being true to my identity.

However this time it’s going to be different. Way different.

First of all, I am planning on colliding my worlds. Business world meet personal world. I figure since I don’t separate Jesus from my business life, why would I separate my blog from Him?

I don’t so I won’t.

Next on the list, I plan on sharing a variety of different topics because I am a guy who likes variety in his life, so my blog will too! I will be writing about revelations about our identity from Holy Spirit, miracles that I experience with Him, and kingdom strategies to bring Heaven to Earth in all we do!

I doubt this will be a perfect transition. Some people will want to read somethings and not others. And that’s okay with me too. Because I think that allowing ourselves to make mistakes is the path of improvement.

Until we say yes to making a mess, we say no to fully expressing who we are.

And as my tag line says, our consistency is found in our identity. So this is the beginning of sharing my identity with the world. It all starts here.